


...from the jaws of defeat

by FullmetalChords



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Legends, M/M, Politics, more tags to be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-16 10:52:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullmetalChords/pseuds/FullmetalChords
Summary: Their story is one of sorrow and misfortune -- but also one of great love and strength. It is not a happy story -- legends rarely are -- but it is one worth telling, even if only in the shreds that still remain.Before they were legends, before they were heroes, before they became the subject of every ballad in Jugdral… Yuuri and Victor were only a knight and a hermit.---Medieval fantasy AU, endgame Victuuri. Updates weekly, usually on Sundays.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so here's the deal with this fic. I've had this idea for a long time and have been writing/posting it on Twitter, but it frankly makes more sense to be consolidated and posted here, since it's getting way out of hand and a bit too unwieldy to actually read on Twitter. So, as you read, please keep in mind that this started as a Twitter thread, and is therefore unlikely to get expanded on much further than it already is (I am actually editing/adding bits as I go). 
> 
> So if it isn't "pretty," or if there are weird tonal shifts in the middle, or if I forget what tenses are, that's probably because this comes from Twitter. We cool? Cool. Let's get started.

This is not a happy story.

Legends rarely are. And the legend of Lord Yuuri of Hasetsu and Prince Victor Nikiforov -- what little still remains of it -- is one of the more tragic tales that have spread across the continent of Jugdral. It survives today in fragments, whispers among the common folk that have reduced these pivotal figures in Jugdral’s history to mythic heroes.

Their story is one of sorrow and misfortune -- but also one of great love and strength. It is not a happy story -- legends rarely are -- but it is one worth telling, even if only in the shreds that still remain.

Before they were legends, before they were heroes, before they became the subject of every ballad in Jugdral… Yuuri and Victor were only a knight and a hermit.

 

\----

Yuuri was a noble of House Katsuki, who ruled over the province of Hasetsu in the nation of Grannvale. At that time, Grannvale was a small but ambitious kingdom in the center of the Jugdrali continent, surrounded on all sides by powerful allies and powerful enemies.

In the grand scheme of things, Hasetsu was but a small fiefdom under Grannvale’s banner. Its noble family had always served the crown, the house of Nikiforov; while his older sister Mari prepares to take their father's place on the seat, she acts as advisor to crown prince Ivan Nikiforov. Yuuri, second son, was a mere knight of the realm, mostly fighting bandits near the border. His role left him quite content. After all, he believed, he could never rule like his sister. He's nothing special.

And so he arrives at the town of Sochi after a skirmish, looking for rest and refreshment.

What happens next was a pattern all too common with our Yuuri: general social anxiety, that one village that got trashed bc he wasn't fast enough, his vassals praising him even though he feels like a failure.

It is also a universal fact that at some point, Yuuri would have too much to drink and search for a dance partner.

Victor is cloaked, in the corner, just observing the atmosphere when Yuuri comes up to him.

“Dance with me.”

This is the beginning of the end.

 

\----

 

Victor has been observing Yuuri, wide-eyed, all night. The tavern in general blows him away -- he's never been somewhere with so many people, so full of life, and thinks he's lucky just to watch.

Then Yuuri invites him to join in the dance. No one's ever asked Victor to dance, but dancing with Yuuri, he thinks he could do nothing but this for the rest of his life and be very, very happy.

For his part, Yuuri thinks it's a shame that no one has noticed the beautiful man with long silver hair before now. He wants to keep him forever.

Yuuri asks who Victor is; gets his name and nothing else. Notices the tome on his belt and deduces, correctly, that he's a light mage.

At the end of their dance he throws himself at Victor, holding him close.

“Be my healer, Victor!”

Victor is in heaven. An inch away from saying yes.

But Yakov steps in before he can respond.

“Vitya, time to go.”

He takes Victor by the arm, dragging him away; Victor is too dazed and Yuuri too drunk to stop it happening.

“Th-the forest,” Victor stammers. “Meet me there. Promise?”

Yuuri does…

...but then promptly forgets. Damn booze.

 

\---

 

Yakov and Victor live alone in a small hut in the forest outside Sochi. Hermits on the fringe of civilization.

At home, Victor gets the chewing out of his life. He's not allowed to associate with outsiders, not even ones as pretty as Yuuri.

“Did you forget about the curse, Vitya?”

Silence. Victor reaches up, touches the silver diadem on his brow that hides his secret. The curse of his father, right alongside the curse of his mother.

“Vitya!”

His hand falls. “N-no. I haven’t.”

His blood, doubly tainted, has doomed Victor from birth to remain alone.

Bloodlines in Grannvale are critical, determining one’s power, strength, status, even the very balance of good and evil itself. Victor’s blood is twice-cursed, but his mother’s curse weighs heavier, bringing this certain truth:

He must never fall in love, lest he and his lover be damned.

It’s more than superstition, Victor knows. He saw the pain his mother lived with after his birth, after she and his father fell apart so horribly. She left him with Yakov when he was small, vanishing into the woods.

She’s dead now, but sometimes Victor still hears her wailing.

And so he can trick himself, now, into thinking it isn’t so bad to live alone and loveless. Maybe it’s better like this, to keep his curse away from others. To pass his life utterly devoid of love and its pains.

Hopefully we already know that fate has other plans in store for him.

 

\----

 

Yuuri's army rides out the next day in the direction of the forest following another missive from the king to quell a rebellion. Yuuri thinks that it will be quicker to go through the woods than around them.

So he rides forward, scouting ahead for a path…

...and comes to a natural hot spring. The waters look relaxing, but that isn't what draws his attention first.

Rather, it's the very naked man bathing in its waters, silver hair cascading to his ass, bare but for the diadem on his brow.

Yuuri can only gawp, forgetting himself.

The man turns, realizing he's being watched, and gasps.

“My Lord Yuuri!”

He jumps to his feet - heedless of his nakedness - Yuuri knows he should look away but is too busy gaping at the stranger's nude form. He doesn’t even register that it’s strange for the man to know his name.

Victor's heart, meanwhile, is racing. This has to be a sign, right? Yuuri came for HIM. After he'd all but given up hope of seeing him again. After he’d tried to put him from his mind.

But Yuuri...his vivacity, his beauty, awaken things in Victor he'd tried to crush long ago. His need for escape, for freedom, to become part of the world instead of an observer on the fringes. To be seen by someone for who he is.

Maybe, to be loved for it, if he can dare to ask.

Victor grins, and extends his hand.

“My Lord Yuuri,” he repeats. “Could your army use another light mage in its ranks?”

Yuuri shakes himself. He’s being foolish, as always, forgetting his mission, and the army could certainly use more healers.

“Uh… Are you volunteering?”

Victor’s grin widens.

 

\-----

 

And so Victor marches with Yuuri and the rest of his army to quell this rebellion at the border town, which they do easily. Victor is a skilled mage and talented with healing magic, and he has no shortage of work to do in the skirmish that follows. He stays by Yuuri's side -- Yuuri is a paladin with a shocking lack of regard for his personal well-being, injured too frequently, and Victor more or less ends up his designated healer. Both of them are fine with this. Victor is also a bit of a shameless flirt, and Yuuri’s face burns scarlet whenever he so much as comes near.

They share their first kiss on the eve of their final battle: a clinging, desperate thing, neither of them certain if they will come back alive. On the verge of losing his love, Victor finally understands why his mother wept.

“Come back to me,” he whispers, and Yuuri nods, fervent.

The conflict is settled easily, and naturally, Yuuri’s army is victorious. No one in the army is particularly surprised when, once the dust of the battlefield has settled, they declare they're getting married. Yuuri even gives Victor a ring bearing the crest of House Katsuki; he wears a matching one with bashful pride.

Their wedding is simple, but attended by all their friends, there on the grounds of the castle they reclaimed. Mari is there, and all of Yuuri's army, and they cheer the new couple as they promise to stay by one another's side, forever.

Yakov is not there, for Victor never told him goodbye. Victor didn't want to hear warnings about the curse or the outside world, not when this was his only chance to get away and find the sort of love he’d feared once (but no longer).

Who's to say that his love story, too, is doomed?


	2. Chapter 2

There are many legends that come to an end when our heroes find love and embark on a new life together. In the case of Victor and Yuuri, their marriage is only the beginning of a story that spans the whole of the continent of Jugdral, lasting many desperate, difficult years.

But nonetheless, let us peer in on Victor and Yuuri, now happily and newly wed. Yuuri stirs in Victor's arms the morning after their wedding, feeling warmer and safer than he has in years. He wants nothing more than to remain here forever with him, to let this moment last as long as possible. 

Yet, sadly, he is stirred by reports that a rider from Grannvale has approached their castle. Yuuri sighs, leaving his sleeping husband behind for the moment to dress and greet his guest.

It is a face he recognizes, and he smiles warmly at the sight of an old friend. 

“Alexei,” he greets. “You’ve just missed the wedding, I'm afraid.”

Alexei raises an eyebrow. 

“Oh? I hadn’t heard you were wed. You must introduce me to your groom later.”

Alexei is the duke of Velthomer, another small province within Grannvale. When they were younger, Yuuri trained with him as a knight, Yuuri with the blade and Alexei with the fire magic his house is best known for. Alexei also demonstrated much more of a talent for politics, which Yuuri never cared much for; this is part of the reason why Alexei works in the government, while Yuuri remains in the army. 

There is one very important thing we must know about Alexei: he is not overly ambitious or cruel, but he is driven, blindly, by his patriotism and service to his nation. He thinks nothing of following orders given by his king, no matter how strange or foul they might seem. Remember this; it’ll be important later.

But for now, his errand from his king is far more innocent. 

“His Majesty is pleased with your victory over the rebels,” he tells Yuuri. “He has sent me with his congratulations, and a gift.”

And he presents Yuuri with a fine silver sword, the handle woven with fine filigree. Yuuri takes it gratefully. 

“What a lovely wedding gift,” he says, wry.

Alexei sighs. “I told you -- it’s in recognition of your accomplishments in battle. Nothing so frivolous as a wedding present.”

But Yuuri isn’t listening. He just got married, after all, and can think of nothing but Victor… Victor, whom he left alone in their bed, cold and surely lonely, while Yuuri came to greet their guest. He is a shameful husband.

“I shall call the blade Eros,” he decides, and solemn Alexei snorts in spite of himself.

“Honestly.” He shakes his head. “Love has made you giddy. I will say, though, that your husband is certainly a lucky man, to have chosen one so skilled on the battlefield.” 

Yuuri smiles, sheathing Eros as he takes his leave of Alexei.

“No, Alexei,” he replies, heading back to his marriage chamber. “I'm the lucky one.”

When he returns, he carefully sets his new sword aside before throwing off his formal tunic, insinuating himself back into his drowsy husband’s arms.

“Where’d you go?” Victor mumbles, still half asleep as Yuuri presses gentle kisses to his cheeks.

“Not far, my love,” he says, and pulls Victor closer. “Never far, from you.”

 

\---

 

Our supporting cast of characters in this tale is not quite so large, not yet; but we may as well meet some of the people Yuuri and Victor have been traveling with.

Many of the people in his small army are loyal knights from Hasetsu -- cavaliers and archers and mages and healers. They adore Yuuri, their lord’s young son, for his kindness and the strength of his leadership. Prominent among his fanclub is Yuuri’s young squire, Minami Kenjiro. Minami’s skills in combat are still developing -- Yuuri often directs him to the rear guard, as he’s more likely to get hurt than do much damage -- but he adores Lord Yuuri, and declares, to anyone who will listen, that Lord Yuuri hung the moon. 

Yuuri has no idea what to make of this hero worship. In fact, he’d all but pretended it wasn’t happening, often outright ignoring Minami, until Victor came along and scolded him.

“How can you motivate yourself,” he’d said to Yuuri one evening, “if you won’t motivate him? I’m disappointed in you.” 

Yuuri had bitten back his shame at Victor’s words and taken them to heart, realizing that Minami, like himself when he’d been his age, only wanted to learn from him. And so after that, Yuuri had taken more time to train Minami and encourage his efforts, though it still feels strange to be thought so highly of by anyone. He doesn’t know why anyone would praise him when he has other knights in his army with more experience, or when there are others who are braver than he is. He’s always had an unfortunate habit of refusing any accolades heaped upon him; if he hadn’t been riding so high from his wedding night, in fact, he might have even refused the sword Alexei had brought him from the king.

But I digress.

Not all of the fighters in Yuuri’s army are originally from Hasetsu. Others had joined him along the way: Yuuri, after all, generally defends the Grannvale border, and some villagers decide to fight for him as thanks for saving their homes. One such soldier is a mage named Phichit -- who is a bit of an unusual case. He’d been a traveler, caught by chance in a village that had been under siege from bandits when Yuuri’s army had rescued him.

“That was amazing!” he’d said once Yuuri had defeated the last of the bandits. “Say -- let me join you?”

Yuuri had blinked. “And… who are you?”

Phichit had grinned, winking at him. “Just your ordinary traveling bard.”

Phichit had been a welcome addition to the army: his powerful wind magic is unparalleled, and he’s quicker on his feet than most of Yuuri’s other mages. But more importantly, Phichit is the closest thing Yuuri has to a friend in his army. He isn’t beholden to Yuuri by his homeland, or intimidated by his title. He may have come out of nowhere, but Yuuri is grateful for his presence and his friendship. 

All in all, Yuuri’s army totals about thirty members; much less of an army, perhaps, than a squad. But they’re a ragtag family of sorts, fighting for a common cause and under the banner of the young lord they adore. 

And, of course, now Yuuri also has Victor by his side. His preferred healer, his mage of light, his love. It is tempting to think they could live happily together forever.

They are wed just four months before their bonds are sorely tested.

 

\--

 

Four months after Victor and Yuuri’s wedding, Grannvale goes to war. 

...It occurs to me that I have yet to discuss the geography and history of Jugdral to those of you that may not be familiar with our land. I hope you will forgive me for this small, but important, digression.

Grannvale, as mentioned previously, is a somewhat small kingdom in the continent’s center. It has always been ambitious, governed by the Nikiforov family and the power of its holy blood. Four other families, including Yuuri’s and Alexei’s, have a sacred lineage of their own, stemming from a war that was fought nearly five hundred years earlier. The heroes of that war are revered as saints, and their children carry on the divine power of their ancestors. Each bloodline also has a divine weapon associated with it: the Nikiforovs, descended from the powerful Saint Heim, have a sacred staff, Valkyrie, which is rumored to be powerful enough to return the dead back to life.

For nearly five hundred years, the Nikiforovs have ruled Grannvale, keeping the four other families in line. Still, throughout the nation’s history, other families have often tried to usurp the Nikiforovs and install their own family as rulers of the small nation, with no success.

(Yuuri, for what it’s worth, has only minor holy blood, as he is the second child of his line. Mari, his older sister, has more powerful blood, and therefore has the privilege of wielding the family’s sacred weapon, the Shichishito: a branching sword with many deadly points. It is this, as well as many other factors, that has led the Katsuki siblings to the paths they follow now, with Mari taking up a larger role in politics while Yuuri is a mere, supposedly “unimportant”, soldier.)

To the east is Isaach, a large agrarian society with only one sacred bloodline to Grannvale’s five. Isaach is more peaceful than Grannvale, although forceful to defend itself from its neighbors that lust over its many natural resources. Its royal family is the Crispinos, with its king Michele wielding their own sacred sword, the Balmung.

To Grannvale’s west -- the kingdom of Agustria, a proud dominion that, like Isaach, will stop at nothing to assert its sovereignty. Years ago, Grannvale and Agustria enjoyed a tentative peace, although Agustria’s new king has lately been amassing an army and thus testing the bonds of that treaty. Agustria’s sacred weapon is a third sword, the Mystletainn, a symbol of the country’s honor.

To the north -- the frozen country of Silesse, protected by its natural mountainous border with its neighbors. It has its own internal issues, but no nation has been foolish enough to invade Silesse -- with its armies of wind mages and pegasus knights -- for decades now. Its queen wields the sacred Forseti tome, a wind spell powerful enough to force entire armies back from her nation’s borders.

And finally, we have two nations to the south of Grannvale, both occupying the Thracian peninsula. Grannvale shares a border with the kingdom of Leonster, another historical ally of the Nikiforovs. However, Leonster has long been at war with  _ its _ southern neighbor, Thracia. The conflict between those two has lasted for centuries, both of them warring to obtain ownership of the two sacred spears, Gae Bolg and Gungnir. 

But for now, we will not concern ourselves with the Thracian conflict, or the isolationism of Silesse. For now, we must turn our eyes to the east, for Grannvale is about to invade the peaceful land of Isaach. For all its natural resources, Grannvale has no access to the sea, and so they make to take Isaach’s, seeing it as a weak target. 

Prince Ivan Nikiforov himself is leading the charge into Isaach, summoning his trusted advisor Mari Katsuki to his side. Mari, for her part, wants nothing to do with the invasion of one of their most peaceful neighbors; yet she goes along, hoping she can talk her dear friend, the prince, out of this ridiculous invasion. 

And now, with the Grannvalian army occupied in the east, Agustria decides it’s the perfect time for them to strike and invade a defenseless Grannvale. 

Well… defenseless, but for the Hasetsu army, which has long defended the western border.

Yuuri is dispatched to protect the border of his homeland, but the Agustrians are more aggressive than before. On the king’s orders, he takes a more aggressive approach himself, in the hopes of stemming further conflict.

And that’s how Yuuri accidentally invades Agustria. 

 

\--

 

Agustria, as one might surmise from the brief description above, is a troubled nation.

The current king’s father had been a peaceful man, content to honor the treaty with Grannvale and conduct trade among the two nations. But his son… His son wants an empire that spans the continent of Jugdral, absorbing all other nations under Agustria’s banner. 

This is more than a whim on his part; he’s been told it’s his destiny by his spiritual advisor, a bishop from the Church of Loptyr.

Now, this so-called Church has long been something of a hidden cult in Agustria’s wildlands. Five hundred years ago, the men and women that would go on to found the other nations of Jugdral were actually battling together against Loptyr, their common enemy who had bound himself to the forces of evil. They defeated him -- but not before Loptyr, much like the rest of the so-called saints, had sired descendants. And so this cult -- this “church” -- has been wandering the continent for centuries, looking for signs of Loptyr’s bloodline resurfacing, as they believe it will herald the second coming of their dark god figure. They've also, periodically, insinuated themselves into various royal courts in order to exert their influence, as they are doing (unbeknownst to the world at large) in Agustria right now. 

It is one of their cleric spies who, watching from the woods, first catches sight of Victor.

He’s rather hard to overlook, with his silver hair catching the sunlight, a golden circlet covering his brow. But the spy recognizes him immediately, and carries word of him back to their dark bishop.

The bishop smiles, wicked.

“Child of Yuliya… At last, we’ve found you.”

 

\--

 

The cult, now watching them from the shadows, goes unnoticed by Yuuri and the rest of his army. They are, understandably, preoccupied with the numerous armies of Agustria, which attack them relentlessly. 

Yuuri meets with one improbable success after another -- remember, he only has about thirty troops, fighting armies of hundreds. His reputation grows back home -- and, incredibly, grows among the common Agustrian people as well. They don’t care one bit that Yuuri is a representative of an invading power. They’ve taken note of their current king being something of an asshat, after all, and he seems to care more for his own ambitions of an empire than for protecting any of them from the collateral damage and chaos of war.

Yuuri, on the other hand, is the opposite.

Even while fighting the Agustrian army, he always takes the time to fight off bandits harming the smallfolk, or to protect them from soldiers (even his own) trying to commandeer the peasants’ goods. In his eyes, he’s fighting this war more or less out of necessity, now that he’s crossed the border, and his king isn’t exactly letting him back down from this fight. But that doesn’t mean he’ll let anyone else get hurt in the crossfire.

Soon, even the Agustrian people are singing songs of Yuuri, praising him for his bravery and goodness. These songs and stories call him the Hero of Hasetsu. 

Victor is unspeakably proud of him; Yuuri is sheepishly embarrassed by what he feels is yet another unearned accolade. But either way, his forces are growing by the dozens: inspired villagers taking up their axes to fight at his side, Agustrian soldiers deserting their own army to fight with this young, level-headed lord. 

The war is nowhere near ending, but it seems to be going well -- at least as well as wars CAN go.

The war in Isaach, on the other hand, is not.

The Isaachians have been rallied by their king, Michele, into fighting back against the invaders, and even with Prince Ivan leading the charge, Grannvale is losing the war. Ivan’s advisors - representatives of Grannvale’s four noble houses - are at one another’s throats as they debate the next course of action, but Ivan… Ivan only seems willing to listen to Mari, who keeps suggesting that Ivan parley with Michele and find a way to end the war.

Now this… this infuriates two of Ivan’s other advisors, Avgustin and Demyan. They are older men who not-so-secretly have been profiting off the war, adding gold to their province’s coffers. If Ivan listens to Mari and ends it all, they’ll lose out on their province’s top source of profit. And so, in secret, they begin to plot ways to stop her.

As for the fourth advisor, Alexei… 

He sits back, and calmly listens to it all unfold.

 

\--

 

Half a continent away, a messenger arrives at Yuuri’s camp, breathless. 

“News from the Isaachian front!”

Yuuri goes to her, heart in his throat, clinging to Victor’s hand. 

“What’s happened?” he asks, urgent. For a moment, his anxiety spins out of control --  _  Mari. _ Has something happened to her? Has she been hurt, or worse, when he’s been useless to protect her?

But the news is far worse than he could have imagined.

“Prince Ivan,” says the messenger, “is dead.”

Everything in Yuuri’s world halts for a moment. 

“Dead?”

He blinks, trying to process it. He hadn’t known the prince very well, but he can’t help but think of the Nikiforov bloodline, which has kept Grannvale safe for nearly five hundred years. Ivan may not have been pleasant, but he was the kingdom’s only heir, and King Dmitri is far too old and sick to father another. What will happen to his homeland now that its sacred bloodline is about to come to an end?

But that isn’t the worst of it. 

“My lord,” the messenger hesitates, “they say Lady Mari is responsible for his murder.”

Victor gasps, covering his mouth in shock, and Yuuri freezes once more. 

But-- to his immense credit -- he knows instantly that it can’t be true. And Yuuri’s instincts, as usual, prove to be right. Those two warmongering advisors -- Avgustin and Demyan -- had conspired against the prince, murdering him so that the war in Isaach might continue in his memory.

It was myopic thinking, in part. Avgustin and Demyan care far, far more about their own house’s wealth and power than the lasting security that the Nikiforov bloodline had brought to their entire nation. And perhaps, they had thought, with the end of the house of Nikiforov, one of them might be able to take the Grannvalian throne for themselves. Alexei had known of this plan… but had neither taken part in it, nor had he stepped in to stop it.

But none of this would matter to Yuuri, even if he were aware of it. He doesn’t know the truth about Ivan’s death, and it will take months before even a shred of the truth is known to him. All he knows is that his sister has been framed -- but he has no way of proving it.

He would run immediately to her aid, abandoning the assault on Agustria and damning the consequences… but he now has pressing problems of his own. 

It should be clear by now that bloodlines are everything in Grannvale. Yuuri’s own blood of Hasetsu has long granted him privileges that commonfolk will never know. But if blood ties can carry power, both magical and political… they can also carry guilt and blame. 

And so Yuuri, despite being over half a continent away, is now seen as culpable, by proxy, of the murder of his own crown prince. Even his mother and father, who have not left Hasetsu Castle in years, will come under fire for this.

Avgustin and Demyan were clever bastards indeed. They could have chosen to simply kill Mari in order to stop her influencing the king; but instead, they chose to taint the entire house of Katsuki with the crime of regicide, thus ensuring that no one would listen to her  _ or _ her successors. 

The house of Katsuki’s influence and goodwill in Grannvale is over now, perhaps for good. The three remaining noble houses will divide up their land, all three now enjoying greater power in the king’s council. And Yuuri himself has gone from a hero, a revered holy knight with the blood of saints, to a traitor and a kingslayer for the simple crime of being Mari’s brother.

These revelations hit Yuuri all at once, and he reels from his new reality. What on earth is he going to do? Is Mari safe, wherever she is? What of his parents? Will they be arrested, tried, executed within the walls of the castle where he grew up? 

“Th-this is… this is a mistake,” he says numbly. “I- I have to… explain to the king. If I can only…”

Victor’s hand in his has gone limp, now falling from his grasp. Yuuri turns to him, seeing his husband turn from him with a terrible look on his face, and his guts seize with a new fear. 

Will Victor still want to be with him, with such a black mark to his name?

“Darling,” he attempts, reaching out to soothe Victor, “please don’t…”

But Victor pulls away, and a fresh knife slides into Yuuri’s back.

“No,” Victor murmurs, tears welling up in his eyes. “No, oh  _ gods, _ this is… this was all a mistake. I can’t… I shouldn’t be here.”

And without another word, he runs from their tent out into the night, leaving Yuuri more alone than ever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit long and info-dumpy -- sorry about that. I added a LOT from the Twitter version and fleshed a bunch of stuff out from what it was. But I thought it would be helpful since a lot of shit's about to go down, and context will probably be helpful. 
> 
> Sorry about being so late with this chapter! Life and work have both been super hectic. Hoping to post chapter 3 early next week so I can get back on schedule, but if that doesn't happen, please don't hate me. And if you've been reading and enjoying thus far, I'd really love to hear from you! I have most of this story plotted out, but it comes much more easily if I know that others have been enjoying what I do, too.
> 
> I hang out on Twitter at @apostaroni, if you ever want to chat!

**Author's Note:**

> Notes on updating:
> 
> \- For the past few weeks, I have been posting updates to this story every weekday on Twitter. This first chapter makes up posts from February 25-March 1st -- in other words, two weeks ago. My general plan is to continue to post this story in tweet form during the week, then clean the previous week's posts up over the weekend and post them here.
> 
> \- So Twitter is always going to be a week ahead from ao3. If you want to read ahead, please check out [the original thread on Twitter](https://twitter.com/apostaroni/status/1100044571382349824), and consider following me so you can keep up to date! You're also welcome to follow the fic on here, of course (this will generally be the cleaner version). 
> 
> \- Currently the pacing of my fic suggests that I'll be going for 10 weeks; hence, 10 chapters. If that changes I'll let you all know. 
> 
> You can find me on Twitter most days at [@apostaroni](https://twitter.com/apostaroni). Holla~


End file.
